Incredible India

I was in India earlier this year for a conference and while it is a place that I never thought that I would visit, it was an incredible experience.

To be in international business these days you have to have firsthand knowledge of what is happening not just in China and Asia, but also in India which is one of the world’s key emerging economies.

I was keen to see and experience it for myself. It is a crazy place, there is a big culture shock, but the people are very polite and I did feel safe and learnt a lot.

To give you an idea, New Dehli has 50 million people in a city the geographic size of Brisbane. Not surprisingly, the roads and traffic are scary and something you have to see to believe. My wife might complain about my driving here in Australia, but I told her that if she goes to New Dehli and is a passenger in a car there, she will never complain again!

One thing that did surprise me was the level of security. At every restaurant or hotel you were checked with scanners like at an airport. It is an amazing level of security and it does make you feel safe.

I was in India on their Federation Day, which this year fell on the same day as Australia Day and the two countries were playing each other in cricket back in Australia. They are mad about cricket and I told them we let them win just so they could celebrate their national day.

The way the world economy is going, with China increasingly looking to sub-contract out to lower cost countries such as India, it is a country that we really need to know and learn about and I can thoroughly recommend a visit there to experience it for yourself.